orphium/proto/light

light

Summary

Initial Light Tests for Project Orphium. In these experiments, a small white light source is manipulated using 1-inch (2.5cm) blocks made of wood and acyrilic. The first experiment was done using an ad-hoc lightboard with a tubular LED desk lamp as a placeholder light source. The second experiment was done with the intended light source (a Gantom Precision Z floodlight). The table was too low for this light, so I switched to projection instead of the lightboard. Eventually, the idea will be to have the dimness of the light source be controlled by computer and synchronized to sound.

Nodes

lightboard
content	Lightboard Tests
children	2024_01_15_lightboard_test, 2024_01_17_acrylic_blocks, 2024_02_08_RBWY, 2024_02_08_RCWY, 2024_02_08_blocks_5color, 2024_02_08_blocks_6color, 2024_02_08_blocks_light, 2024_02_08_blocks_light2, 2024_02_08_colorrows, 2024_02_08_lighthole, 2024_02_08_mondrian, 2024_02_08_one, 2024_02_08_whiteblue

projection
content	Projection Tests
children	2024_02_20_blob_altar, 2024_02_20_blob_altar_bts, 2024_02_20_blobs, 2024_02_20_blobs_floor, 2024_02_20_colorglyphs, 2024_02_20_colorgrid, 2024_02_20_cosmic_statue, 2024_02_20_cosmic_statue_bts, 2024_02_20_face, 2024_02_20_face_bluehaze, 2024_02_20_face_bluehaze_bts, 2024_02_20_face_bluered, 2024_02_20_face_redhaze, 2024_02_20_light_henge, 2024_02_20_light_henge_bts, 2024_02_20_statue, 2024_02_20_sunrise, 2024_02_20_sunrise_oblong, 2024_02_20_sunrise_oblong_bts, 2024_02_20_tetrisy, 2024_02_20_tower, 2024_02_20_underwater_greenshadow, 2024_02_20_underwater_greenshadow_bts

equipment
content	Equipment
children	2024_01_15_lightboard_test, 2024_02_20_precision_z, 2024_02_24_redlight

2024_01_15_lightboard_test
content	Lightboard Test
children	2024_01_17_acrylic_blocks (A few days later, the first blocks came in the mail)
parents	lightboard, equipment
remarks	Before I even got any blocks, I assembled this lightboard from parts around my apartment, which included a glass riser table, binder clips, microfiber towels, paper towels, and a tubular LED desk lamp with the base unscrewed.
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2024_01_17_acrylic_blocks
content	Initial Acrylic Blocks
children	2024_02_08_colorrows (Next Phase)
parents	2024_01_15_lightboard_test, lightboard
remarks	I was pretty excited by the quality of the acrylic color blocks and the way the camera photographed it. In this scene, I was using microfiber clothes to cover the exposed parts of the lightboard. The wood blocks still had to be ordered. I was still wondering if this was a good idea or not. After this I felt it was good enough to go to the next phase.
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2024_02_08_colorrows
content	Initial Color Rows with wood blocks
parents	lightboard, 2024_01_17_acrylic_blocks
remarks	One of the early shots I took with woodblocks. Microfiber cloths are still used to cover the light up.
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2024_02_08_blocks_light
content	Blocks in Room Lighting
children	2024_02_08_blocks_light2 (better quality lighting)
parents	lightboard
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2024_02_08_blocks_light2
content	Blocks in Room Lighting (v2, better lighting)
parents	2024_02_08_blocks_light, lightboard
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2024_02_08_one
content	One
parents	lightboard
remarks	restricting lights to a single acrylic cube (the number of cubes I had at this point was limited, so I thought to start here)
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2024_02_08_lighthole
content	Light Hole
children	2024_02_08_RCWY (Use of lightholes to get the white color), 2024_02_08_whiteblue (also uses open holes in the grid to produce the color white)
parents	lightboard
remarks	This was made by arranging wood blocks, and leaving a single gap for light to get through. I thought this was a very dramatic effect.
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2024_02_08_whiteblue
content	white/blue
parents	lightboard, 2024_02_08_lighthole
remarks	A light cyan block, and no block (producing white)
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2024_02_08_mondrian
content	Mondrian
children	2024_02_08_RBWY (elabration)
parents	lightboard
remarks	This arrangement, consisting of the primary colors blue, white, and red, is inspired by Mondrian. Mondrian found himself focused on extracting the pure essence of ideas using abstraction. In a similar vein, I found myself trying to start with smaller forms like this to figure out the essence of the medium I was working with.
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2024_02_08_RBWY
content	Red, Blue, White, Yellow
children	2024_02_08_RCWY (similar)
parents	lightboard, 2024_02_08_mondrian
remarks	The red really shows up as more of an orange, but I think that gets exagerated by the camera. In person, the red is a little bit deeper.
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2024_02_08_RCWY
content	Red, Cyan, White, Yellow
parents	lightboard, 2024_02_08_RBWY, 2024_02_08_lighthole
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2024_02_08_blocks_5color
content	blocks: 5 colors
children	2024_02_08_blocks_6color (elaboration, iteration)
parents	lightboard
remarks	This was taken towards the end of my photo shoot. I had just figured out how to use the "night mode" of my camera. The illumination is quite dramatic here. I'm cautious about enjoying this, as it starts being more about playing with the camera sensor rather than exploring light in a space.
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2024_02_08_blocks_6color
content	6 colors
parents	2024_02_08_blocks_5color, lightboard
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2024_02_20_colorgrid
content	Colorgrid
children	2024_02_20_tetrisy (elaboration)
parents	projection
remarks	First thing I tried to do was make a grid-like structure. A natural inclination. Reminds me of some of disco, and maybe some mid-century modern graphic design. I did not expect the borders to be so pronounced.
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2024_02_20_tetrisy
content	Tetris-y
children	2024_02_20_colorglyphs (elaboration, from blocky forms to glyphs)
parents	2024_02_20_colorgrid, projection
remarks	After making a grid, I started trying to make forms on the grid. They remind me of tetris blocks.
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2024_02_20_colorglyphs
content	Color Glyphs
parents	2024_02_20_tetrisy, projection
remarks	I tried making the forms more glyph like, similar to some of the kufic-inspired designs I make in other projects. An interesting restriction right here is at the moment I only have a finite number of each color.
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2024_02_20_face
content	Face
children	2024_02_20_face_redhaze (elaboration: change ambient light color)
parents	projection
remarks	Faces and pareidolia are a natural part of my work involving vocal synthesis. I couldn't not make a face.
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2024_02_20_face_redhaze
content	Face: Red Haze
children	2024_02_20_face_bluehaze (Blue haze instead of red)
parents	projection, 2024_02_20_face
remarks	I started playing around with putting blocks in front of the light source. It really changes the mood. Allegedly, this is a "red" block, but it produces more of an orange-y light.
image

2024_02_20_face_bluehaze
content	Face: Blue Haze
children	2024_02_20_face_bluehaze_bts (bts), 2024_02_20_face_bluered (iteration, two colors now for ambient)
parents	2024_02_20_face_redhaze, projection
remarks	Interestingly, some of the blocks in the face disappear. I'm reminded of some of the old-school black-and-white film tricks that involved placing different color filters in front of the camera to make things appear to be transforming (Jekyll and Hyde maybe?)
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2024_02_20_face_bluehaze_bts
content	Face: Blue Haze (behind the scenes)
parents	2024_02_20_face_bluehaze, projection
remarks	This shot captures the lighting source. You'll see that the blue block is actually propped up by a wood block.
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2024_02_20_face_bluered
content	Face: Blue/Red
children	2024_02_20_statue (Elaboration: more dual colors in ambient lighting)
parents	2024_02_20_face_bluehaze, projection
remarks	In this experiment, I used two differently colored blocks to split the ambient lighting in half.
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2024_02_20_blobs
content	Blobs
children	2024_02_20_blobs_floor (iteration: included floor in shot)
parents	projection
remarks	Produced by placing color blocks very close to the light source. You begin to see more textures this way.
image

2024_02_20_blobs_floor
content	Blobs plus Floor
children	2024_02_20_underwater_greenshadow (Elaboration: more delibrate attention to floor projection)
parents	projection, 2024_02_20_blobs
remarks	One thing I noticed was the color pattern being sharply mirrored on the floor, so I had to take a photo of that!
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2024_02_20_blob_altar
content	Blob Altar
children	2024_02_20_blob_altar_bts (bts), 2024_02_20_statue (similar format, use of distance to change cube scale)
parents	projection
remarks	In this shot, I'm playing around with moving the blocks at different distances from the light source.
image

2024_02_20_blob_altar_bts
content	Blob Altar: Behind the Scenes
parents	projection, 2024_02_20_blob_altar
remarks	A shot of blob altar including the lighting element setup. Note the surprising asymmetry of the blocks. Approached this way, working with blocks and light very much becomes a spatial art.
image

2024_02_20_sunrise
content	Sunrise
children	2024_02_20_statue (elaboration on rotated cubes), 2024_02_20_sunrise_oblong (variation: more ablong)
parents	projection
remarks	I figured out that rotating the cubes slightly made for more rounded projected figures, which is how I made the "sun".
image

2024_02_20_sunrise_oblong
content	Sunrise (Oblong)
children	2024_02_20_sunrise_oblong_bts (bts)
parents	2024_02_20_sunrise, projection
remarks	An ablong variation of the Sunrise
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2024_02_20_sunrise_oblong_bts
content	Oblong Sunrise (Behind the Scenes)
parents	projection, 2024_02_20_sunrise_oblong
remarks	This provides a better shot for how the sunrise was made. In addition to the rotated and unrotated cubes providing the figures, I'm also placing light purple blocks in front of the light source to give it a darker backdrop. There's also wood blocks on top of the purple blocks, which makes for a darker night sky.
image

2024_02_20_statue
content	Statue
children	2024_02_20_cosmic_statue (Variation: different ambient lighting), 2024_02_20_light_henge (variation on form)
parents	2024_02_20_sunrise, projection, 2024_02_20_face_bluered, 2024_02_20_blob_altar
remarks	A statue-like form, made using cubes of various distances, dual-cubes affecting the ambient lighting, and rotated cubes
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2024_02_20_cosmic_statue
content	Cosmic Statue
children	2024_02_20_cosmic_statue_bts (bts)
parents	2024_02_20_statue, projection
remarks	I added some different ambient lighting to the statue form, and it started giving me cosmic horror vibes. Hence the title "Cosmic Statue"
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2024_02_20_cosmic_statue_bts
content	Cosmic Statue (Behind the Scenes)
parents	projection, 2024_02_20_cosmic_statue
remarks	I like how spaced out the blocks are here. It becomes clear that the 2d projection is caused by a 3d sculpture. There could be a storytelling element in that idea somewhere. Not sure.
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2024_02_20_light_henge
content	Light Henge
children	2024_02_20_light_henge_bts (bts)
parents	2024_02_20_statue, projection
remarks	It's light, and it has henge-like qualities, no?
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2024_02_20_light_henge_bts
content	Light Henge (Behind the Scenes)
parents	2024_02_20_light_henge, projection
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2024_02_20_underwater_greenshadow
content	Underwater Green Shadow
children	2024_02_20_tower (More simple forms), 2024_02_20_underwater_greenshadow_bts (bts)
parents	2024_02_20_blobs_floor, projection
remarks	At this point in the shoot, I wanted to step back and simplify. This intentionally uses less blocks, and takes advantage of the transluscent color more. Note the shadow this casts, very dramatic.
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2024_02_20_underwater_greenshadow_bts
content	Underwater Green Shadow (Behind the Scenes)
parents	projection, 2024_02_20_underwater_greenshadow
remarks	a better angle of the lighting source, as well as a more pronounced shadow
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2024_02_20_tower
content	Tower
parents	2024_02_20_underwater_greenshadow, projection
remarks	A retreat to simpler forms as the session comes to a close. The tower is drenched in a blood orange haze. There definitely could be a narrative here.
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2024_02_20_precision_z
content	Precision Z Flood Light, Cool white
parents	equipment
remarks	This is the new light source, a Precision Z cool white flood light by Gantom. The form factor is really what got me interested in this particular light. It is conceivable to control the brightness of this light from an arduino using PWM. My hope is that I'll be able to control using a computer using signals from a sound patch send to a "light channel" abstraction.
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red_light
content	Red Light Experiments
children	2024_02_24_redlight, 2024_02_24_redlight_hand, 2024_02_24_redlight_resonator, 2024_02_25_redlight_window

2024_02_24_redlight
content	The red version of the Gantom Precision Z LED light.
children	2024_02_24_redlight_hand (with hand)
parents	red_light, equipment
remarks	I really liked the way camera made it look like a fireball.
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2024_02_24_redlight_resonator
content	La Voile Acoustic Resonator illuminated by the Red Light presentation, so I wanted to see what it would look like.
parents	red_light
remarks	I figured the red light would be used as a kind of wash, and that the resonator would be a major part of the
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2024_02_24_redlight_hand
content	Red light with hand
parents	red_light, 2024_02_24_redlight
remarks	Couldn't resist taking a picture of my hand reaching out towards the menacing fireball.
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2024_02_25_redlight_window
content	Red light from out the window
parents	red_light
remarks	With an ominous red light, I of course had to try freaking out the neighbors by shining it out the window at night. I've also been watching a lot of X-files, which has it's fair share of spooky lights coming from windows with open blinds.
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